“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
- Genesis 2:1-3(KJV)
“The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, “Master, eat.” But he said unto them,” I have meat to eat that ye know not of. “ Therefore said the disciples one to another, “Hath any man brought him ought to eat?”
Jesus saith unto them, “My meat is to -do the will of him that sent me-, and to -finish his work-. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.”
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, “He told me all that ever I did”. When the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.And many more believed because of his own word;
And said unto the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’ “
- John 4:28-42(KJV)
“ For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”
- Heb 6:7-15 (KJV)
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BIBLICAL LIVING 101 : Work – Part 2
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We continue on our discussion on the Concept of Work this week, but before we dive in, lets do a quick recap of what we learned last week (and you can read last week’s post for more detail).
1. We saw the wonderful mystery of Christ and the Church revealed BEFORE the Fall through the sacrament of Marriage between the Man & the Woman. Marriage not only symbolizes the ultimate union of God with His Creation (Wo(man), taken from out of Him, united back to Him), but also sets forth for us to see that God had a plan to create a people for Himself way before the Fall!
Man’s ultimate destiny is that which has been coveted and bitterly resented by our enemy – Unity with, and the right to rule the Kingdom of, God!
2. We saw how high God prizes obedience. Free will is a dangerous gift to give to a god-like being unless it is tempered by conforming it to the righteous Nature (and hence, Law) of God. In our passage above (text 2), Christ says, His will is to do the will of the One that sent Him!
God does not want obedience because He is a tyrannical despot, He wants us to obey His Laws for our and the universe’s (/others) benefit, and He Himself agrees to be bound by His own Law & promises in there!
Man’s history is a lesson in moral evolution, learning to grow up spiritually – as befits his being the only morally aware animal on this planet!
Physical power is useless and almost irrelevant in the spiritual domain. (A mighty Samson can be taken down by the wiles and flattery of Delilah.) We all need to grow to discern spiritual & practical truth, gain control over our emotions/mind/soul, and exercise physical power with compassion, kindness, gentleness in love.
3. Lastly, we saw the activity of bringing forth food from the ground (farming) being made difficult due to a curse on the earth.
It is VERY important to note that neither Man, Woman, Work or Tree were CURSED. Humanity received just Wages ( death ) and Punishment ( sorrow in child bearing, marital tension, and sweat , trouble till redemption is done). It was the Earth that was cursed - and this has broader implications ( carbon dating/age of earth) - that we can’t go into now. Instead, we saw the blessing of redemption hidden right here! Man went down, but he is not knocked out! Hallelujah!
The connection between Man, Ground/Soil/Dust, Fruit/Harvest, & Food itself – to God is both a practical reality, as well as a gentle pointer and reminder to us as to where our Life Support comes from,in particular, the Word of God, from which we draw all our spiritual and mental nourishment!
Let’s take a look at the Work that God does, and in what way we are to be partners in His enterprise.
1. The Work of God the Father
In Genesis 2 (our first text), we see work and stop-work mentioned together. The Work that God did, was His work of Creation. In 6 days – it was all done.
Man thinks this is impossible and usually Christians are laughed at when they say the universe was created within a week…. but...this is another pointer to the accuracy of the Bible.
Why would it take an omniscient,hyper-infinite, omnipotent God ANY TIME AT ALL? After all, couldn’t He just speak by Magic and everything would instantly materialize? That would be the way a legend would tell it!
That’s not the process the Bible shows us. We see an orderly progression, day by day, even when the earth is initially without form, and clouds and darkness are its swaddling band – we see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters…. He was planning. And it took an HYPER INFINITE, OMNIPOTENT God, 6 WHOLE days. That’s what is truly impressive!!!! To put it in perspective a cheap modern computer does about 4 billion operations a second. Imagine what it can do in 24x60x60 of them. That’s one computer - now multiply by infinity and we are still not even scratching the surface of what He can do!
It took a whole day to create the concept of Light, and SEPARATE IT FROM the concept of DARKNESS. Scientists are still trying to figure out all its intricacies… it allows us to see, carries infrared energy from the sun, radio waves, magnetism, as well as its speed being the Universal Speed Limit… yeah, I would say that would take a day. Notice the rest of the PHYSICAL universe (sun, stars, moon) all happened after these basic laws were figured out. EARTH however is SPECIAL – it is special because here is where LIFE (physical and spiritual) originates in the universe!
God’s work also included the plan to redeem for Himself a people, through the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The fact that He created and married the first man, shows us that the capstone of Grace was already designed when He was laying the foundation of His footstool!
So in 6 days, it was complete. Creation, & the Plan. The Work of one Member of the Trinity was done. He rested from Creating, but the work of the Plan was not fully finished – it needed a Messiah.
2. The Work of God the Son
Christ came to FINISH the work of redemption (“My meat is to -do the will of him that sent me-, and to -finish his work” – 2nd text this week). On the cross, it was finished. Christ, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross and His mission on earth. That was His job, and His assignment, given to Him by the Father.
Like us, there were times when He was tempted – in the wilderness, or in the Garden of Gethsemane, to choose His OWN WILL for His life– whether that was to turn stones into bread, or forgo the cross. In all these trials He stood firm – and………we see food again! The First temptation now takes on additional significance. It was to turn stones into BREAD after fasting for 40 days! The Devil comes asking a Son of God to reach out and use His power for HIMSELF & EAT! (Amazing echoes of Eden, but this time he is talking to ADAM v2!) What did Christ say? “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.
We told you Food was a metaphor! Obedience is also linked to Food - “my meat/food is to do the will of him that sent me” - and it is Gods will to preach the Gospel of Forgiveness and Redemption!
3. The Work of God the Spirit.
The Spirit comes to teach us how to live a happily married life with God!
We can say more but suffice it to say that He woos us, proposes to us, weds us, gives us spiritual birth, builds us up (in Knowledge - directly, through people and the Word), He intercedes for us, He gives us gifts to help others and He helps us deal with our flesh which actively resists His presence every day.
He is the down payment on our Inheritance. The trainer, equipper, and coach that we will work with to do life, and beyond - and He has a job.
He testifies of Christ through Man, and that is where our concept of work will now take us…
4. The Work Of Man – Show People Jesus the Christ, Yashua Melekh Mashiach!, through the Power of the Spirit.
In John’s Gospel, we see the work of an evangelist beautifully depicted for us. Christ goes to the Samaritans (outcasts but Half Jewish). He reveals Himself to the Samaritan woman and then what happens? She goes off to tell everyone else….
In the meantime, the disciples are concerned about food. Christ lovingly tells them, His Food is to do the work that He was given to do – preach the good news of the kingdom! And He has news for them… The Harvest is already here…….!!!!!!!!
If the disciples bothered to lift their heads – they would see the Samaritans already beginning to emerge from the city and stream towards Jesus. That is who He is drawing their attention to ! The fields are ripe – the gospel of the Kingdom is being announced by the King himself! Jesus is showing His disciples what they are to do – bring people to Him!
This is the endeavor in which we are to partner with God in His Work. Like the Samaritan Woman, we start with a personal encounter with Christ in our life that changes our perception and worldview instantly. We cannot wait to bring people to Him, (and probably do a very bad job of evangelism) but ultimately, that is ALL He is asking us to do.
People may believe ABOUT Christ through our words, but it is only when they SEE AND EXPERIENCE HIM FOR THEMSELVES, first through the changes in our lives/actions, and then in their own, that the transformation happens (like the citizens of the Samaritan town)!
Showing People Christ is our Job!
Like the Earth/Soil, Branches, Fishing – the fruit/fish does not come from us.
We reap “that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” The fruit is the product of the Seed planted by the Sower, nourished and cultivated by the prophets (“other men”). All we have to do is bring in the harvest, the fish to the Shore…
Isn’t it wonderful how God not only REDEEMS humanity, but also uses the very thing He had cursed to be a metaphor for REDEMPTION – Farming!
You see that metaphor being used in Hebrews too (our third text this week) – about the TWO TYPES OF SOIL (Dust/Man… well we have beaten this point so hard that you get it by now), that yield TWO TYPES OF FRUIT. “Good fruit/Harvest” that is gathered into the barn, and “tares/thorns/briers” that are burned. God keeps track and watches over all those participating in His work (our fourth text) and the rewards will be correctly given. (Who knew that the book of Hebrews had Jesus’s parables in there!)
This is also THE most important job in the world, because it gives OUR LIVES meaning. Our job is not something that allows us to just go on living – that is a waste of a life! To participate in the adventure of restoration….. now that’s meaningful! This Work is so important, so crucial because it has eternal consequences for both the laborers and those on whose behalf the work is being done.
Finally, This work of GOD is something EVERY Man & Woman can do, wherever they are, with just His Word & His Spirit as the tools! Why? Because HE is the one who does it THROUGH us! All we have to do is be sensitive to His prompting, and abide in Him. This Work is EASY, this burden is LIGHT.
In the book of Acts we see a young woman (Lydia) “ And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. --Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. ---She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us. (Ac 16:13-15)
Through Paul (a faithful disciple) Lydia was not only converted, she was instrumental in the salvation of her whole household – and it was GOD that opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. That’s the way it works!
His Son took on skin, poverty, physical exhaustion, public service, spiritual education, and trod a path to redemption that flayed the skin from His bones, put thorns on His head (* remember the curse *), pierced His hands, side, and feet, and took His life. This is perfect Obedience to the Will of God and the model for what we need to do – humbly, without fanfare (He did not raise His voice in the streets), and with great compassion for sinners. Don’t you think if it was THAT important to Him, it should be for us?
Now you can see why the priority of a Child of God in this new job is – Training & discipleship. Seek ye first the kingdom of God & His Righteousness, then all these things (bare necessities of life, putting food on your table) will be added unto you! This is our job, and now you can see how important it is to him.
What about working for a living… you said this was going to be practical advice https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/td3/1/16/2639.png");">☹ , Yes, we are going to talk about that next week, God willing – but we hope that drawing your attention to your TRUE job was a practical help….
Lord Help all of us in your work and endeavor – for we are not able or worthy!
Hallelujah!